Support for Professionals
Support for your service
Hospitals, hospices and other eligible services may request selected Ripples of Compassion resources to hold and offer directly to the children and families they support.
What can your service request?
You can refer for one or more appropriate forms of support.
Each request is considered individually and is subject to eligibility, availability and charitable funds.
Comfort Boxes
A carefully prepared collection of comfort and self-care items for someone grieving the death of a child.
Families can receive up to 2 boxes per year and they can be given to families:
Immediately after the death of a child.
Christmas or other holidays.
Significant anniversaries or birthdays for families.
Services can keep a stock of up to 10 Comfort Boxes to distribute directly to families.
We provide boxes for parents, siblings, mums, dads and whole families. Most services choose to keep a small number of each box type in stock.
Dreams & Courage Collection
Specially made hats, crowns and character-inspired items for children who have experienced hair loss during treatment.
Each child can have up to 2 hats and they can be requested at any point in a child’s journey.
We have a range of different hat designs from our traditional princess hat to dinosaurs, knights and Winnie the Pooh.
As a service you can request a selection of different designs and sizes to keep in stock for families. We can provide up to 15 hats per service. Please let us know if you have a preference for particular sizes or styles when you order.
Little Comforts
Gentle resources—including Calm Cards and Worry Worms—to support relaxation, reassurance and emotional regulation.
They are helpful for when a child is struggling with feelings of anxiety and would benefit from simple, low-pressure tools used with a trusted adult or independently.
They are suitable for children going through treatment and bereaved siblings.
They are aimed at primary age children but suitable for children of all ages except for Worry Worms which are over 5 years only due to choking risk.
Ripples Support Stories
Gentle stories and activities featuring Ripples, our comfort cat, to help children understand and express difficult feelings linked to treatment, loss and bereavement.
The collection includes four bespoke stories: one for children receiving treatment, one for their siblings and two for bereaved siblings. Each story is accompanied by activities that professionals can use to gently explore feelings, memories and continuing bonds.
Services can request a practitioner resource pack containing the four stories, a Ripples Comfort Cat and a selection of accompanying activities to use with children and families.
Additional copies of the activities can also be requested when your service needs them.
Bereavement Libraries
Carefully selected books providing reassurance, understanding and practical guidance to parents following the death of a child.
Ripples Bereavement Libraries are provided free of charge to hospices, hospitals, bereavement teams, support groups and other services working with bereaved families. Parents can borrow the books whenever they need them, without having to purchase their own copies.
Services can request a full library of approximately 25–40 books or a smaller library of approximately 5–15 books. Existing library partners can also request a top-up or an additional library for another service location. You can view our existing library locations or complete the request form to apply for a library for your service.
Ripples Comfort Cat
Ripples is our soft comfort cat, created to help children feel less alone while they are experiencing difficult feelings connected to treatment, loss or bereavement.
She can be used alongside our Ripples Support Stories to help begin gentle conversations, explore emotions and provide something familiar for a child to hold during individual or group work.
Services can request one Ripples Comfort Cat as part of the practitioner resource pack, together with the four Support Stories and accompanying activities.
Individual Ripples Comfort Cats may also be available for bereaved siblings through our family support offer.
Not sure which route you need?
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We can help you find the right starting point.
Tell us whether you are looking for support for an individual child or family, resources for your service or something else.